Bahamas press attaché urges firings at ZNS

On his first day on the job as press attaché in Washington, D.C., Oswald Brown found himself in a public spat on Facebook after he urged ZNS Executive News Director Andrew Burrows to fire Free National Movement (FNM) operatives at the corporation for “undermining all the good things this PLP government is doing”.

“I'm sending you this inbox because I am mad as hell about what appears to be a well-organized attempt by FNM operatives at ZNS to undermine the leadership of Rev. William Thompson and indeed the entire current management at ZNS,” Brown posted.

“If you follow Facebook, which I know you do, you would have noticed that Dominique Demeritte, whomever that is, has been unrelenting in her criticism of ZNS and she has been using some information in her posts that could only have been given to her (or him) by someone at ZNS.

“I think you need to find out who that person is and arrange for them to find a different line of work.

“We have got to stop being timid of firing people who are seeking to undermine all the good things this PLP government is doing.”

Burrows responded that he is aware of what is going on, adding that the “source” at ZNS has “wrapped herself up in a tight little squeeze”.

But the message from Brown was not sent to Burrows’ private inbox as Brown said he intended to do.

The message was reposted on several Facebook pages and received hundreds of comments yesterday.

However, Brown commented that, “My solution to this situation is exactly what I suggested: If the culprit or culprits are exposed, fire them.

“I make no apologies in suggesting this.”

In a post, Demeritte said she was shocked by Brown’s comments.

Brown, however, who said he was being verbally assaulted on the popular social media site, asked Demeritte to repost accusations she made against Thompson, the chairman of the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas.

“Why don't you repost the accusations made against ZNS Chairman Rev. William Thompson and the one about the ZNS employee who is being paid $55,000 a year for doing virtually nothing, as your ‘spy’ claims, and let this misguided group of individuals who are verbally assaulting me see why I was so outraged by the actions of this ZNS ‘spy’,” Brown said in a message to Demeritte.

He said he felt that far too many civil servants cannot separate their politics from their jobs.

“Essentially they act as ‘spies’ for their respective political party, whichever one is in power,” he said.

“This is a dangerous practice that should be stopped, and if a law does not exist to this effect, the appropriate legislation should be introduced.”